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Every year we see some new technology disrupting sectors like healthcare, education, real estate and finance. In 2017, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality gained momentum with investors pouring in a huge amount of funding into AR & VR focused startups and companies. According to an IDC study, the worldwide revenues for augmented and virtual reality market will grow to USD 162 billion in 2020.With these two technologies taking over the world, Entrepreneur India takes a look at few sectors that will benefit from virtual reality and augmented reality in 2018.

Enriching the Student Learning Experience :

According to Vipin Goyal, Director - Strategy & Operations, Veative, immersive technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality are going to play a historical role in enriching the learning experience. It will bring a paradigm shift in the way people look at school education, retain information and gain knowledge.

"Motivation to learn is a big need of the society all over the world. Immersive learning promises to do exactly that and brings learning to life. Our company is passionate and committed to taking the exciting journey of immersive learning to masses," said Goyal.

Mixed Reality Marketing Will Gain Traction:

There is a lot of buzz around mixed reality technology which refers to merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments. Vishal Reddy,CEO, WOWSOME emphasizedMixed Reality is a more inclusive phrase that covers AR, VR, and IOT. The core technologies when combined with great design, break the disconnect between our real and digital lives (Example: visiting a retail store vs the online store for the same brand).

"Even in our personal lives, we encounter the perpetual decision point of whether to search any query on our phone or ask the person sitting next to us. Mixed Reality will optimize our lives by merging the two realities.Though consumer utility apps will be the biggest growth segment in long-term, I foresee mixed reality marketing as the first sector to benefit in 2018 followed by mixed reality training & troubleshooting in industrial manufacturing," said Reddy.

Impact on The Enterprise Market:

Jignesh Talasila, Founder, Loop Reality believes like every other technology in the emerging space, VR & AR are going to create a huge impact on the enterprise market, be it mechanical, automobile, aerospace, electrical, construction, and retail. Overall, he predicts a huge adoption of both technologies in India by the summer.

"With the announcement of affordable standalone VR devices from HTC & Facebook apart from the recently launched MR headsets by Microsoft, we expect a huge market to open in the gaming, entertainment, tourism, and education. After the success of recently launched AR Kit by Apple, AR Core by Google and upcoming 845 Snapdragon by Qualcomm, the technology adoption is going to be exponential," shared Talasila adding that with a couple of wearable devices, AR and VR have found some amazing use-cases in healthcare and wellness space.

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